


The Boy Who Lived

by chimneysmoke (recension)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Canonical Character Death, Epilogue, Gen, HP: Epilogue Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 08:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/recension/pseuds/chimneysmoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Harry, A lightning bolt shaped scar"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy Who Lived

**Author's Note:**

> For the _Welcome Home_ Harry Potter LJ ficathon.
> 
> Original prompt: "harry, a lightning bolt shaped scar"

No one told him.

His whole life wizards and witches gawked at the scar, used it as proof of identity. He was Harry Potter. It was as good as his name carved in his flesh... but why it was so unique, no one ever told him.

He'd never spent much time with dead bodies. He'd seen them, yes, but he was always pulled away. Pulled off. Sent to grieve in privacy. It wasn't decent to stare, even at the dead, he supposed, but no one's stopping him now.

The night had been long but the battle was won, and Harry stares at the lined up bodies of his friends and enemies in the morning light. Some have died from unknown causes, blood loss, falling debris, but the ones struck down by the Killing Curse are easy to spot. 

They have lightning bolt shaped scars on their bodies. Torn through clothing and implanted on chests, on wand-holding hands and cheeks. His scar, his familiar scar, on the bodies of the dead.

"You shouldn't be here, Harry," Kingsley says gently, moving about the bodies, drawing marks in the dust for labeling.

"Is this why it's so exceptional?" he asks the Auror, touching his scar, needing to know.

Kingsley nods once, certain. "You're the only person to gain that scar and live. It shocks people when they see it.

Harry's mind rolls over the times he's pushed back his fringe and proudly showed it, because people have asked. When he was starved for positive attention. When he didn't know its source and even after. He still hadn't known its meaning. Was it like he was showing off? " _Look what happened to me, look how extraordinary I am. I am the Boy Who Lived._ " He blushes with hindsight embarrassment and tries not to feel sick. 

Have people seen him and thought of loved ones lost? Of walking corpses? Inferi?

"No one told you?" Kingsley asks. He's stopped in his tracks, and his eyes roam the day's Hero. Harry looks unwell. "You should go lie down," he advises the boy. "We've set up cots in the Great Hall."

Harry nods feebly and pushes his fringe down over the scar, obscuring it with greasy hair and dirt.

"It's part of who you are, Harry," Kingsley says wisely. "Part of your 'origin' story. Don't obscure it to make others comfortable. It should be a reminder to them of all you've lost and risked."

Harry nods once more and leaves the room, leaves the dead, but he's not sure he agrees.


End file.
